Prepress Preparation, Continued
Spacing
Spacing between letters, words, and lines affect legibility.
LETTERSPACING: Letterspacing is the placement of extra space between
the letters of words to improve or balance the type. Divide the spacing
evenly between letters and words to maintain visual balance.
WORD SPACING: Word spacing is the adjustment of spaces between words
to shorten or extend a line of type. This is often used to justify text.
Justification is the alignment of both the right and left margins to a
predetermined length. Mechanical word spacing uses an em space. The em
space is the standard unit of measure for the typeface being used and equals
the square of the body type based on the letter "M". One half of an em
space is known as a en space. Too much space in between words causes a
disturbing visual break in composition by creating rivers of white space on
the printed page.
LINE SPACING: Spacing between the lines of text is called line spacing or
leading. Line spacing is the distance in points from the base line of one line
of type to the base line of the next line of type. Long lines of text require
more spacing between lines. If no additional spacing is used between lines,
the text is said to be set solid. Navy publications generally use 2-point
leading.
Figure 1-17 shows examples of line spacing.
Figure 1-17.—Line spacing.
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